


His Hidden Sister

by exoticaaa (americanaaa)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: (not among the main characters), Angst, Canon compliant-ish, Childhood Abuse, Found Family, Getting to Know Each Other, Levi finally dealing with his trauma, Levi's sister - Freeform, Lost siblings, Mentioned and implied prostitution, Spoilers, a non romantic slowburn, and trauma, content warnings added in beginning chapter notes, gradual discovery, instead if thirst writing levi i just traumatize his sister, me writing while having a breakdown: asmr crying noises, norse mythology references and undertones, so many spoilers right off the bat, society vs the ackermans, their discovery as siblings is a slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23678104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanaaa/pseuds/exoticaaa
Summary: Turning petals into bullets, thorns into shields, the protector into a monster.--The titan's curse isn't the only legacy of Ymir.However, the fact that curses don't translate well in modern times is a lesson Levi is about to find out.It is fate, and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot escape the fate birthed by his own mother.
Relationships: Levi & Original Female Character(s), Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin) & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. prologue| the beginning

**_B E F O R E_ **

_"_ _You're_ _lucky, that I got them for you." King Fritz told her with a familiar tone. "Slaves dont usually get slaves."_

_"...Thank you." Ymir_ _barely_ _mustered, looking up to see three women―_ _girls really―_ _with downcast eyes at the side of the king. They look_ _identical_ _except for a beauty mark on a different spot of their face._

_"I have work for you to do, come to my throne room after this." King Fritz ordered as he stepped out. Once hes gone they look up, and Ymir could tell they were from her tribe, except their eyes are a shade of brown that her tribe never had._

_"We are honored mistress." The one in the middle, with the beauty mark on her nose bridge said as the others make a small noise of agreement and they deeply bow._

_"The pleasure is mine." Ymir said as she allowed the young girls to come closer. "What is it you do?"_

_"We're the Norns, magick women." The one with the mark on her left cheek said softly. "We offer our_ _abilities to you and your every whim, your highness_ _."_

_"Please, do not_ _addressed_ _me as though I am your master. I am a slave to the people." Ymir said mechanically, the respect they show_ _gave her an alien feeling, which is from more than just the energy they exhued. Ymir isnt supposed to be treated as a human. Although she doubts those young magick women are fully human themselves._

_"As are we." The sister with the mark on her right cheek said with the slightest hint of a sad smile. Ymir noticed she_ _briefly_ _touched the ink on her arm. "Fate has both cursed and blessed us and we can only be honored to carry such burden. King Fritz has shown us mercy and had us spared, we are indebted to him. He has allowed us to assist you from now on to repay him."_

_"...Ok." Ymir said, because who was she to deny something from the father of her child? The_ _pregnancy_ _had already been hard enough on her and she would be a fool to reject help._

_It was then that her string of fate had been tangled with the young girls._

_She would only grow closer to them everyday as she watched them grow into women. Their kinship would grow as well, over the curses that coursed in their veins. And she would remain inseparably close to them until the day she died._

_-_

_And when the day came that their mistress had been slain, King Fritz had called them to the dining table. A plate set for each of them._

_For the Norns with marks upon their cheek, they had a eyeball on their plate from their late mistress. The one with the mark upon her nose had Ymir's heart. They stared at the king blankly as he stood over his children who cried as a butcher gave them pieces of their mother to consume._

_"Eat." He said, eyes impossibly cold and demanding._

_"We do not wish to violate our mistress in this way." The one with the mark upon her nose said as she and her sisters stood together, firmly._

_"Eat. Or I will give each of you to whoever pays the highest." He said. They caved, the bond of their sisterhood overpowering their bind to their mistress. The two Norns hesitantly popping an eyeball in their mouths, as though they were grapes._ _The Norn with the mark upon her nose finished last as she chewed and swallowed the last piece of human flesh, and wiped the trickling blood off her chin with contempt._

_The king then had them taken away from the dining hall and locked up to see if any change would take hold_ _. The Norns scratched and poinded on the door, begging to be realeased for days on end. No one could bring them food and the little water they would accept was poured into their hands. Until they stopped accepting water at all, and the room in which where they were imprisioned in fell silent. The king g_ _rew impatient and had them brought to him after four days of their utter silence._

_They neither spoke nor looked at anyone as they were brought back to the king after a week of confinement. As they stood before_ _the_ _king, they seemed to be aloof, slightly swaying with_ _their_ _eyes closed until the king sat in his throne and demanded to know if they underwent a change._

_"We see things." The one with the mark upon her left cheek said._

_"We hear things as well." The one_ _with_ _the mark upon her nose continued._

_"She gave us names." The one with the mark upon her right cheek said. A skinny_ _finger_ _pointed to the one with the mark on her left cheek, yet she started at the king the entire time with a hazy gaze, "Skuld." It pointed at the one with the mark_ _upon_ _her nose, "Verdandi." She pointed at herself, "Urd."_ _She gestured to the remaining girl with the mark upon her right cheek._

_"Who is she?" The king demanded, his daughters flinched at his tone._

_"Our_ _mistress_ _," Verdandi answered, her voice light and her gaze was unfocused._

_"What do you mean?" The king yet again ordered them to answer._

_"She whispers in our sleep, murmurs in our ears, speaks in a language only we understand..." Urd said, her and her sisters stopped swaying_ _simultaneously_ _, and locked eyes with the king._

_"_ _**She thinks you done** _ _**despicable** _ _**things to us**_ _." They said in unison. "_ _**We stray** _ _**further** _ _**and futher from the scraps of our human nature, and it will only cause strife** _ _."_

_"We have relied on the inhumane to protect our country. You must carry on your bloodline." The king told them._

_"We take no orders from you anymore." Skuld said. The king barely managed to calm his rage at the utter defiance they dared show him in front of his court. Before he ordered the guards to execute them, he had an idea, everything he had done with Ymir has been_ _experiments_ _and tested_ _hypotheses_ _. He turned to his_ _daughters._

_"Maria." His eldest daughter tensed stiffly at how her father growled her name out. "Tell them what I said."_

_"... He..." Maria's lip trembled as her sisters, Rose and Sina, grabbed her hands and worked to quietly soothe her. She cleared her voice and said in a stronger, firm voice, "Do as my father said."_

_The Norns' attention snapped to the child. They bowed deeply and when they raised, they spoke again in_ _unison_ _. "_ _**As you wish** _ _."_  
  
  
  


\----

**_A F T E R_ **

  
  


"Come on, Kenny! It's just a baby-" Kuchel Ackerman's words were cut off with a sarcastic scoff.

"Yeah, _sure_. Cause thats what happened with Levi." He spoke as he turned to lean against the rusted wall of the house and lit a cigarette. Breathing in and exhaling out smoke calming his nerves before he snapped at his baby sister.

"You know I wont be able to take care of her." Kuchel said in a passive whisper. "I don't think I can deal with this curse any longer, the Military Police hounding after me. You know what could happen if you leave it with me? With my kind of job? C'mon Kenny. Do it for your little sis-"

"No means no. I think I have enough already without paranormal shit in my career, sis." Kenny said as he stubbed his cigarette into the wall, the dying ember watched by his eyes instead of looking at his little sister, her eyes most definitely damp and face undoubtably scrunched in anger.

"I didnt want this." Kuchel said after a moment of thick silence. "Not like this, Im sorry Kristen got to hold me first. Im so sorry that you're not the one who got the Brand, and―" Her words were cut off. The glowering look in Kenny's eyes was enough for the words to die on her tongue. She quickly diverted her eyes to the side. Too skittish to face her brother, who's face, if the years of being siblings taught her anything, was contorted in rage.

"You better hope this magic shit skipped a generation. Or I personally will cut the fucking head off of your shitty baby." Kenny ground out.

He almost felt guilty about the fear that swelled in his sister's eyes.

Almost.

"I dare you to." Kuchel said. She finally sat down on the bed that the dingy brothel provided. She seemed interested in the cracked, dirty floor for a while, until she rubbed at her eyes and looked up at Kenny with a hard glare. "You kill it, and I'll tell everyone about us, about our family about our _curse_. Or would you rather I tell them you took time off of work to visit your whore sister in a brothel underground? Your fucking choice, _Kenny_." Kuchel cooed tauntingly.

".... Good luck raising a baby in a whore house. It'll be lucky if it isn't already disease riddled." Kenny bit out, he stood up, and walked towards the door of the room, existing the room, rage pulling his muscles taut. The Madam tried saying something that was meant to make him reconsider visiting her brothel again, but Kenny was pretty sure he'd never step foot back into the Underground, much less a brothel.

Fucking curses and shit. Always messing with your life span and family relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall!! Im a crackhead from wattpad. And as you may know, wattpad is fucking wack and keeps getting wackier every update, so i've migrated here, and brought/am bringing my works with me.
> 
> Please enjoy my works. And leave comments and kudos, i am very approval thirsty and im unashamed of it :))))
> 
> Ta ta lovelies,
> 
> -jane


	2. rockabye baby

"Kylah, Ilene! Go check on Rowan, make him stop for god's sake!" The Madame screamed at them as a loud wail rang through the brothel. The girls scrambled to their feet and ran to the "Quiet" room where a boy was crying loudly, he wasn't much older than Kylah.

"Madame says to stop doing that thing with your face." Kylah deadpanned. Rowan choked a sob in shock, staring at her. His pitiful look pinched into a rather irate one.

"Stop what." He bit out.

"I think Kylah means crying." Ilene said.

"Tell Madame to bring my mom back and I'll stop crying!" He said in a bitter tone as his expression crumbled. Kylah blinked once. His mother had just gotten sold off as a personal prostitute for the week, and it was understandable that he'd be upset. Any normal kid would be. Thinking on the words a bit, her mouth pulled into a sneer. Rowan had turned away from her at this point and started to hiccup again, appearing to start returning to his loud wallowing.

"God, you're _pathetic_." She said, effectively silencing him, Ilene let out a squeak as she tried to convince Kylah that _"now was not the time"._

"It's just a week and it's our mom's jobs. You think the Madame takes care of us with donation? Our mothers have to work otherwise we don't eat." Kylah deadpanned at him.

"Oh shut up, Kylah!" Rowan snapped, his ears turning red. "Your mom doesn't even want you!" It was an unspoken rule among the brothel children that their familial relations were a taboo topic none of them broke unless they wanted to deal with each other while they were a crying mess. Kylah, however, choked him up with a hard glare.

"None of our moms want us, Rowan. They're prostitutes." She said in a ' _duh_ ' tone. "Madame feeds us, houses us, gives our mom's jobs. All we have to do is behave, Rowan. And you're not behaving right now."

"Madame only takes care of us cause we're her fresh supply." Rowan bit out defensively. "She doesn't care about us like mom does, and I hate Madame anyway! Mommy and me will never have to come back if we run away."

The girls stared at him, flabbergasted that he'd say such a bold thing when the Madame was just a few rooms away. Kylah rushed and sunk down by his side, grabbing ahold of his ear as she tugged it harshly. Ilene tried to protested, but then decided to keep her mouth shut.

"Don't say that. She'll get angry if she hears you." She hissed into his ear, ignoring the protest and flailing arms Rowan threw at her. "Madame's already angry at my mom, if you make her more mad, _I will kill you_." She threatened as she released his ear from her fingers, she stood up and walked towards the door, Ilene trailing behind her. His hand moved immediately to cradle around his ear.

"You don't have to do this." He called out after her, Ilene's hand stopped Kylah just before she opened the door.

"Do what?" Ilene asked curiously, and Kylah gripped her arm tightly to shut her up. Madame would punish them if she found out they were talking like this. 

"You don't have to follow your parents footsteps. We don't have to." He proclaimed

Kylah turned around to face him, and let her mouth twist up. "I don't listen to crybabies."

And with that, she opened the door and left, pulling Ilene with her by the wrist and slamming the door,

\--

"Mallory, Kylah, the beds need to be changed." The Madame said, the two stood up and went in the hallways to find the broom closet that had the fresh sheets.

"Hey, who do you think those people are?" Mallory said as she discreetly nudged her head in the main room's direction under the cover of her auburn bangs. Kylah got a glimpse of dark green through the door before it disappeared.

"That dark of a color? And green?" Kylah said as if she couldn't believe Mallory was even asking. The auburn haired girl gave her a side smile.

"I know, cause I'm going easy on you." Mallory cooed as they entered the first bedroom. Mysteriously stained pillows and crusty blankets were dealt with extreme caution by the two.

"A wealthy merchant at least," Kylah answered as Mallory gave a hum of acknowledgment. They got inti a small argument over who would be switching the bed sheets before Mallory pinched the corners to drag off the bed the rest of the way. Everything was straightened out and Mallory did a final sweep with the broom as Kylah looked for any inconsistencies in the layout.

It was a repeat for the next two rooms. But whilst they were scrubbing a strange crusty stain off of the floor in the third room, a muted crash echoed through the brothel. The two girls looked at each other briefly, questioning, before they resumed their task of finishing up making the room spotless, mysterious clattering wasn't an uncommon occurrence.

It wasn't until one of the brothel children's voice shouted out did they rush outside the room into the hallway.

"I think it came from the pantry!" Kylah spoke out as they ran past the first room. Mallory shook her head.

"I think... it came from the main room!" She argued. Another smashing sound reverberated along the walls. They screeched to a halt. More cluttering sounds and a short, shrill shriek. They stopped before the door to the main room, and decided to crack the door open a sliver to peek inside. Their mouths went slack at the state of the room.

Marlene, Mallory's little sister, was curled up in the corner with another kid, knees brought up to her chest and hands clamped over her ears. Green cloaked men were going through the brothel's main room, searching, muffled shuffling gave away the adults that were searching the other rooms.

"Where are they!" A woman angrily screamed as she brought her hand down on a table. Marlene flinched as she let out a strangled sound, and curled into herself even further.

"I told you they're not here!" The voice of Madame bit back. Mallory and Kylah couldn't see her, so they assumed that she was in the blind spots that the slight crack in the door had.

"Bullshit." The woman replied, scarily calm. "We'll tear this whole goddamn place apart if you don't give us those fucking Ackerman bitches."

"I don't have any Ackermans. They've all died out anyway." Madame replied, unfazed. Kylah and Mallory however, from years of being raised by Madame, picked up on the tiny tremor in her voice.

"I think we should go..." Mallory suddenly whispered in Kylah's ear. The younger girl jumped, before she recognized it was Mallory and bit her lip.

"Our mom's have to come too." She quietly said back. "We won't live without them."

Before Mallory could respond, a rough shove pushed them past the door and into the main room. They fell over their knees and onto their stomachs. Squeaking leather sounded behind them.

" _Jesus fuck_. How many of these do you have running around." Another woman's voice called out. Mallory and Kylah slowly lifted their heads up, looking around the room to get a grasp of the trashed surroundings. Looking behind them, a woman with a bob of blonde hair looked distastefully down at them.

"These children have nothing to do with the Ackermans. Leave them be." Madame rushed out as she went over the Mallory and Kylah's sides. She gently placed her hands in theirs and helped them to their feet. "If it's my girls you want, they're out. Come back tomorrow, or something."

The two green cloaked ladies stared at Madame and the children. "How many girls ya got?" The blonde one asked. "And you better be fucking honest." She warned.

Madame's lips pursed as she shooed Kylah and Mallory over to the corner where Marlene and the kid, who was now identifiable as Gavin, were huddled together. "Twelve. I have twelve girls."

The other woman, with a small ponytail of red hair hummed. "My guys found a pocket of kids and some of your girls here and there. What's twelve girls to fifteen kids? They at least have one each. Which means if you got an Ackerman, she has offspring." The woman then grimaced before she quickly composed herself and put a hand on her hip. "So I'll have to ask you to step away from the children."

Madame immediately denied. The two women had to call in two men to drag her out of the room, and Madame fought every step towards the door. Another green cloaked person filed the rest of the kids into the room and they sat down in the corner, silent and observing as the children fidgeted under their unblinking stare.

When Madame was gone, the two women had what looked like a short discussion between them as they stared at the children. The blonde one let out an annoyed groan as she walked over and crouched down in front of them, her expression now softening and a smile pulling her lips.

"Hey.." She said quietly. "We're here to catch some bad people, and we wanted to know if you could help us." She finished it with widening her smile.

"What do you want." Rowan bit out. "No one here's done anything bad. So stop confusing us!" Kylah pinched his knee as a warning as the blonde's expression tightened for a second before the soft look came back, even more falsely sweet than before. Rowan immediately shut his mouth.

"There are bad people here though." The woman countered. "A bad man's friends came here, and we want to make sure they can't hurt anyone anymore." She hushed. The kids all looked at each other.

"Um... miss?" Jia meekly said as she lifted her head from her knees. The woman ignored her and her smile turned into a different kind of heated, unlike the fake warmth from earlier, this one was ablaze. Jia shriveled under the the woman's look and tucked her head back into her arm and squeezed around her legs tighter.

"He's a very, very bad man. So please help me catch his friend quick, okay? I promise you'll help so much." The woman says, her eyes are something close to predatory. She wanted those people, whoever they are. The kids nodded anyway.

"Good, good." She crooned. "Now, I'm going to ask some questions. You don't have to say anything, but if you know something, don't be afraid to speak. Okay?" They nodded again, not really being able to comprehend the severity of the situation.

"Does the name... Kenny sound familiar?" She inquired. Marlene's eyes went wide as she gaped at the woman.

"Isn't that the man you're mom keeps crying about." She whispered not-so-discreetly or quietly to Kylah. The blonde lady's eyes turned to her as well, eyes sharp as diamonds and the gears turning in her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kylah responded. "My momma doesn't have brothers or sisters." She deflected. Her mother had once muttered to herself _"Kenny is dead to us"_ while she had her crying episodes throughout the years.

"What's your name?" The blonde lady asked as she held her hand out to Kylah. "My name's Scarlett, but they call me Officer Roma." She introduced, a hungry gleam dancing behind and around her pupils. Kylah swallowed visibly before she croaked oh her answer, and took the woman's hand in a handshake.

"Elise." She lied. The woman's demure mask started crumbling as the corner of her mouth twitched. "Elise Junso."

"What are you talking about, Kylah?" Jia asked innocently.

If Kylah didn't spend time helping Jia's mother raise her, she would've clocked her up the head. She nervously wet her lips as something dark passed over Roma's face.

"The rest of you can go. I want to talk to _Kylah_ a bit." Officer Roma said as her soft mask melded back onto her face. The children eventually all left, leaving Kylah alone with this Scarlett woman.

"Oi, Liara. We got her." Officer Roma said through the walls. Kylah started wildly looking around the room. The door creaked open slowly, revealing the same woman from earlier that had left.

"Ya sure?" The woman called Liara asked. "She seems.... I don't know, ordinary? Ya sure she's a Carrier?" Kiara as as she moved closer to inspect Kylah's features. Kylah tried averting her gaze to the side, and look away, but Kiara stopped her by sandwiching her jaw between her palm and fingers. Kylah felt a burning urge to spit in their eyes, or hit them with something. Her eyes danced around the room, feeding into the imagery of violence for a moment.

A candle stick was hard enough to use as a defense weapon, but it broke too easily. The candelabra was cheap tin and would bend to easy. The mirror was of no use unless she managed to grab a shard, and she was certain someone unsavory would hear the crashing. So she eventually was left with no other choice then to slowly relent and let the women inspect her face a if she were an expensive vase--

"They're getting more and more ordinary looking." Liara said in distaste as Roma hummed in what seemed to be agreement. As they touches on her face and arms became lighter and lighter, and their attention on her waned, Roma grew a wicked smile.

"How much you wanna bet?" She drew out as Kylah sat in front of them, unable to move without being sliced into meat ribbons for the rats with the swords that hung off of the women's belts.

"How much ya bet she's Dormant?" Roma asked. Liara's eyebrows quirked funnily as she let out a breathy laugh.

"Please, there's no way ' _she_ ' could be asleep. The kid's obviously old enough." Liara said. Roma said something back that obviously showed her disagreement.

Kylah worked up the courage to ask, "What are you talking about?" But it came out more croaky and it sounded foreign to her ears. The women shot her a glance before returning to their conversation.

Weird words were passed between them, _Urnes_ , _vessel_ , _runes_. They sounded unfamiliar to Kylah, but her body sent weird shots of electricity through her body, the cool waves soaking into her abdomen did weird flips. It was like something uncomfortably warm was humming under her skin, ready to break free. It felt odd.

"Better safe than sorry." Officer Roma said, and it sounded as if it ended the conversation. Liara pursed her lips and a slight grin expression shadowed her face.

"Good thing this is private." Liara mumbled under her breath, seemingly to herself as she crouched in front of Kylah, who curled into herself in response.

"Alright. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Stand up." Liara ordered. Kylah shook her head and tucked her head in between her knees. Curling into herself even more. Liara let out an annoyed huff.

"Fine then." She grit out as she grabbed Kylah limbs. The girl started squealing in discomfort and squirming around, but the iron grip of the woman in the green cape hauled her around like she was nothing. Probably because Kylah weighed nothing.

Liara casually strolled through the brothel halls, and stopped at the door that was nicknamed by the kids as the Grand Room. Instead of letting her hold on Kylah lessen and openeing the door with her hand, Liara unceremoniously kicked the door in and the lock broke through the opposing wooden door like shattered glass.

" _Honey, I'm home_ ~" Liara sung out jokingly with way too much enthusiasm. She dropped Kylah on the floor, and turned her around, a large grin on her face as she did so. Kylah's stomach was now twisting in knots for a different reason.

Flanking the large bed were several more green cloak-clad adults, each with a more stern look than the last. And tied and bound to the bed, was Kuchel Ackerman.

"Momma?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall!! Corona has my schedule fucked up, but up to chapter 4 should be uploaded quickly !!
> 
> Also!! Content warnings for future chapters: mentions of non-con, child abuse, alcoholism, and just unsavory/triggering things ahead, do not proceed any further if you are sensitive to topics like these!!
> 
> Ta ta lovelies,
> 
> -jane


	3. Chapter 3

Kylah stood there, shocked, her breath had since gone still. A hand settling on her shoulder cause her to tense up, and suck in a breath of surprise.

"That's your mother, isn't it?" Liara asked, her smile long since gone cold and any softness she used to coax Kylah into letting her guard down had solidified into an antsy, yet maliciously gleeful look. It made Kylah's stomach twist.

Kuchel Ackerman made noises from where she was restrained, shaking her head so harshly that black hair whipped with her movements of vigorous shaking. Kiara turned her head away from Kylah, presumable to glare at the mess of a woman flailing on the bed.

"No one asked for your opinion." One of the men in the room snipped at her as one of his comrades tried calming him down in a hushed voice.

Liara then turned back, a sadistic kind of glee staining the edges of her eyes. "That's your mother, no? It's fine, we'll let her go after this. Just one question, _one tiny question_." She further tried. Kylah felt the answer weighing on her tongue, just waiting to burst out from their cage behind her lips.

Officer Roma dismissed Liara, and placed her hand around the nape of Kylah's neck. She crouched down to whisper directly in her ear.

"That is your mother, isn't it, Kylah?"

"Yes."

Kylah immediately slapped her hands over her mouth, the word forced itself from her tongue. "I... I mean! No! My mother, she... she died!" Kylah lied desperately. The lies felt as if they were choking her, and every false word that came through her mouth felt like it was weighing her tongue down. "Madame is taking care of me in mama's place! I swear!" A fit of coughs followed.

"Shut up, and stop lying. You'll hurt yourself." Officer Roma ordered her. Kylah forced her lips to shut, afraid of what else would happen. "Stay, Kylah." Roma said, and Kylah's limbs grew numb and relaxed in spite of her wanting to reach out for her mother.

She watched as Roma approached her mother, and rolled the strip of gag from Kuchel's mouth. Profanities slipped from her mouth as Kuchel rolled her jaw to get the feeling back into it.

"Seems like your spawn isn't house trained, eh?" Officer Roma teased Kylah's mother. Kuchel's lips twitched slightly at the term, her jaw working slightly before she spat a ball of saliva into Roma's eye in response.

"Fuck you." Kuchel bit out. The armed soldiers around Roma tensed up and some even had their weapons trained on the prostitute.

Roma seemed impassive as she wiped the spit out of her eye. She dismissed the worry of the soldiers with a wave of her hand, and then slyly peeked over her shoulder, where the child stood, still seeming out of it. Kuchel followed Officer Roma's like of sight and her posture tensed immensely. Her mind running miles an hour trying to string together a response to distract them from her daughter.

Before her mouth opened, Roma's sight flicked back to her, a smile pulled at the end of her lips as she looked at Kuchel. "We know she's one of those _things_ , whore," Roma said, words poised and cutting deep into whatever semblance of situational control Kuchel had thought she had.

"She isn't." Kuchel bit back. Roma scowled, it was obvious she wasn't buying it.

"And you can shut the fuck up. You and your Ackerman family always making trouble, having us run around like we're headless chickens, trying to clean up the mess you guys leave. You think that denial is getting you anywhere? You're a fucking dead woman, Ackerman." Roma seethed.

Kuchel scoffed. She received a slap in return.

"We can do this the easy way, or I can break off each of your fingers. Your choice, Ackerman." Roma curtly said as she rolled her eyes at the impulsiveness of the soldier that smacked her.

"That isn't my daughter, you've got it _all_ wrong."

"For the love of fucking god, shut up." Liara said, appearing back at Roma's side. "God, all you Undergrounders are fucking annoying." She muttered distastefully under her breath.

" _Kylah Ackerman, stand down. Watch me_." Officer Roma ordered. The horror swept over Kuchel's face as her daughter's eyes became frantic and wide at her body moving against her will at the sound of the foreign language.

"Stop!" Kuchel cried out, pulling against her restraints. It was an old, ancient tongue who's words would wrap around and suffocate her into compliance when she was younger, before she had children. It had no effect on her anymore... but her daughter was another story.

Her warning to her daughter earned her a snapped and broken finger to cry about instead. 

Broken fingers werent what she shouldve been worried about.

\--

Kuchel Ackerman was dead. Mangled on a bed while her daughter cried over her body.

The soldier-woman who was in charge of breaking Kuchel's fingers also laid dead in a mess of slowly trickling blood and various gore that the child's hand could rip from the corpse. 

And the newly Awakened girl was covered in both of the women's blood. Crying over the body of her mother.

Roma and Liara watched from what distance a brothel's " _Grand Room_ " provided. Roma particularly satisfied.

"What's next?" Liara asked as they watched her.

"We train it." Roma said, as if it was obvious.

"How? _It's_ in control, and volatile." Liara said, the weeping girl proving this point as she hissed at anyone dumb enough to try and approach her. "We can't touch _it_."

Roma gave a side glance, a grin carving onto her face. "I know some people."

  
\--

"So you want me," The Trafficker paused, letting the irony of the statement brew in the air for a sweet moment, "to hold onto your problem?"

"Yes," Roma snipped. "She'll be worth it-"

"How much?" He said. Roma was almost disgusted how his eyes seem to bulge at the mention of it. 

"Three times her weight." She said, it wasn't worth indulging such a lowlife with her time.

"Gold?"

"Obviously." Roma scoffed. "But she needs to be safe, and untouched. Shes no good if you put her out like your other girls." She said, watching as one of his girls ran out of the alley way they were near, smoothing out her hair and buttoning her blouse.

"Then why take her if she cant work?" He said bluntly.

"How do you train your boys?" Roma said, she wouldnt think about how desperately she wanted the Trafficker to take on the girl. He could almost smell emotions.

"I train the pretty boys like the girls," He absentmindely scratched the stubble on his chin as he thought. "The ones that already come bulky, I train them to be guards, people pay good money, especially in Sina. The Military Police are shit at their jobs."

"We already know that. And I didnt come to be insulted. Train her like the bulky ones." Roma said.

"Already tried, it'll cripple a girl's body." He replied. "Aint no use training her if I gotta throw her out."

"Her body's different." Roma stopped herself, thinking her words carefully. The Trafficker couldnt be trusted to not groom and pimp out the girl, not unless there was more worth than a substaintial amount of gold. "She's an Ackerman, she's a little berserk right now though, so I'd be careful working with her."

Roma wished she had the artistic talent to capture how the grubby, smug look on his face melted into absolute horror.

"Fucking hell Roma, what kinda shit hole you dig yourself into?" The Trafficker said. "Word gets out I got an Ackerman girl in my ranks and _they'll_ come tearing through looking for her. Fuck this shit, it's too dangerous-"

Roma didnt hesitate to resort to the blades that sat neatly in her gear. "Do I need to remind you what happens to those who disobey the King's orders?" The Trafficker rolled his eyes. Which Roma had to admit, was pretty ballsy considering she had a sword to the man's neck.

"Yeah and what happens if it _accidentally_ gets out that I got a little girl I'm gonna pimp out to the King?" He pinched his nose bridge, letting out a sharp sigh. "And God forbid those people find out theres an Ackerman girl floating around in this area. People pay money, _good money_ to find out this shit."

Roma scoffed. "I've stomped in my fair share of heads that decide to run their mouths. I think I'm getting pretty good at it. Brain's pretty easy to clean up off the street, not a bunch of blood plus the birds love it."

"You know rumor turns into gospel here."

"That'll be easy to fix." Roma said.

"Wow, typical Roma. You always slung death threats left and right."

"Shut up." She snapped. "You taking the girl or not?"

The man smiled, displaying his yellowing teeth. "You know you can always count on daddy, Roma."

Roma rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure. Thanks dad."


End file.
